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Hotel Headquarters. Last weekend's District Assembly at the Del Mar Marriott continued a trend that started a few years back in Tucson. Since then each DA has been held at a hotel.

Few churches in the Pacific Southwest District (PSWD) can accommodate the growing number of attendees each year. Neighborhood UU Church of Pasadena (the last time DA was held in a church) and First UU Church of San Diego are two of them but the question now is whether certain hotels are even large enough.

Carolyn Saunders, chair of the PSWD Planning Committee and a member of UU Church of Tucson, will soon be turning to DA 2009 which will be held in Mesa, Arizona. “We start a year in advance,” she says.

In addition to the leadership and hard work of Carolyn, her committee and District Executive Rev. Ken Brown (above photo), one of the keys to making everything run smoothly is a talented and hard working Local Planning Committee. Co-chairing that committee this time were Rev. Jim and Betty Grant, who were everywhere last weekend—from staffing the information table, to helping UUs find a particular workshop room, to so much more—all with a smile. There was also Joan Kanter, who recruited and organized about 100 volunteers from all five San Diego congregations.

DA was so packed that the Marriott ran out of chairs, prompting UUs from San Dieguito to bring in extras.

DA is one of the few times during the year that UUs from Southern California, Nevada and Arizona come together in one place. “It's an absolutely marvelous way for people to network,” says Carolyn Saunders. Although DA has left San Diego for now, we'll continue to include stories and photographs about last weekend's wonderful event and its theme, “Weaving the Tapestry of the Beloved Community” in future newsletters.

Record Attendance. Almost 400 UUs from throughout the Pacific Southwest District (PSWD) attended last weekend's District Assembly, making it the largest one ever held. Last year, about 325 UUs attended DA in Riverside.

Highlights of the three-day event included the keynote address by Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell of First Unitarian Church of Portland, Oregon, and Soulful Sundown on Friday night, followed by the Awards Banquet on Saturday night, and the Worship Service on Sunday morning. The Service was led by Rev. Dr. Tom Owen-Towle, interim minister of UU Fellowship of San Dieguito, and Rev. Dr. Beth Johnson of Palomar UU Fellowship.

Each of San Diego's five congregations was well represented, from the volunteers who registered visitors and helped with so many of the functions, to the workshop leaders, to the choirs from Chalice UU Congregation, Palomar and San Dieguito which combined during the Sunday Service. During the Service, UUs collected $2,047.00 for San Diego Food Not Lawns, which had been selected as the Service Project for DA.

One of the primary goals of the PSWD Planning Committee has been to increase the number of children and young adults at DA, and to make it “a family weekend.”

From all indications, UUs thoroughly enjoyed their stay in San Diego, whether they were from Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, Prescott, Tucson or any of the areas represented.

Anyone notice the UU CAMP license plate on the GMC truck parked in the Marriott garage?

Saturday/June 14/First Church. Ruslan Biryukov (cello), Mary Au (piano) and Alan Busteed (violin) will perform as part of the Spring Concert Series beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday-Sunday/June 25-29/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Annual General Assembly. For registration and information see www.uua.org/events/generalassembly/.

Memorial Service. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, May 10, at 2 p.m. at Palomar UU Fellowship for Art Hulbert, a founder of the Fellowship. According to an e-mail from Rev. Dr. Beth Johnson of Palomar, “Art was killed by a car Monday evening (April 14) as he walked home from his weekly square dancing outing. He was an active and lively 92 years old and he will be missed.”

Position Open. Chalice UU Congregation is looking for a new Religious Education Coordinator. This is a part-time, 25-hour per week position paying $21,500.00. For more information and a job description, contact Paula Gonzales at chaliceoffice@sbcglobal.net or (760) 737-0393. May 2 is the application deadline.

Prime Time TV. Jai Ghorpade of Summit UU Fellowship notes that the television show Desperate Housewives on Sunday evenings made reference to UUs recently. One of the housewives was going to church, and said to a friend, “Why don't we try the Unitarians. Anything goes.”

Time Magazine. The April 14 issue of Time magazine has the first of two ads that will run as part of Phase II of Unitarian Universalism's National Marketing Campaign. The second will appear in the May 12 issue on newsstands May 2.

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